Sam
Samantha, known to her friends as Sam, is one of the eight protagonists and a playable character in Until Dawn. She was voiced and motion captured by actress Hayden Panettiere. Appearance Sam has dirty-blonde hair tied in a pony-tail. At the beginning of the game, she wears a red shirt, an onyx-black leather jacket wrapped with a lipstick-red thick scarf around her neck, and a plaid-styled skirt. Later on, she is clad in only a white towel. She later finds her backpack and changes into a white shirt, crimson-red jacket, and grey workout pants. Personality Sam is described in game as diligent, considerate, and adventurous. She seems to be the most level-headed and friendly member of the group and is rarely the cause of drama. Sam is a warm and caring individual, and cares deeply about her friends and their feelings, especially Hannah after the prank they pulled on her. The others may find her a little quirky, but she is comfortable in her own skin. She is a nature enthusiast with a love for animals, and dreams of becoming a conservationist. She is a pacifist which has a disdain for violence and conflict, but will not shy away from fighting in order to save herself or her friends. Highly resourceful and resilient, Sam demonstrates remarkable calmness and decisiveness when under pressure. She is also strong-willed and doesn't scare easily. Until Dawn Biography Nature-loving Sam is a warm and caring individual. The others might find her a little quirky, but she's comfortable in her own skin. She is strong willed and doesn't scare easily. The weekend away is a chance for Sam to catch up with friends, enjoy the mountain air, and put the past behind her. She is a resident of Los Angeles, California along with the other Lodge Survivors as well as Hannah and Beth. Involvement 'One Year Ago' Sam is shown arguing with Jessica about her plan to play a prank on Hannah. She tries to find Hannah and warn her, but reaches her right after the others have played their prank on her. Sam begins to chase after Hannah and get her to come back to the lodge, but fails to convince her and remains at the cabin. As Beth runs after her sister, Sam discourages Mike from pursuing them as he would be the last person Hannah would want to see. 'Chapter 1' A year later, Josh invites all his friends back to his lodge on the mountain. Sam is seen on a bus and listening to a podcast about the anniversary of Hannah and Beth's disappearance and then later watches a video of Josh inviting them all back to the lodge. After she alights from the bus, she goes to the cable car station where she meets with Chris. She watches Chris practice shooting a rifle before they take a cable car up to the mountains. During the ride, she learns of how Chris and Josh became friends. The duo then meet Jessica at the top, where they learn of her new relationship with Mike. As Jessica insists on waiting for Mike, they head towards the lodge where they meet Josh, Ashley, and Matt. 'Chapter 2' Sam is shown to be aware of Chris' crush on Ashley as she can tease him about it. Along with Matt and Ashley, she will wait outside for Chris to open the lodge door. Inside, as things escalate between Mike and Matt, if Ashley shows him Mike and Emily, otherwise it is Jessica and Emily, Sam opts to stay out of it along with Chris and Ashley, and when Jessica, Mike, Emily, and Matt finally leave the lodge, she decides to take a bath. 'Chapter 5' Sam is later seen listening to music in the bath. She then hears the Psycho close the bathroom door. As she gets out, she notices that her clothes have gone missing. She thinks that her friends are playing a trick on her until she soon sees a video of herself taking a bath and of Josh getting sawed in half on a TV monitor. The Psycho gives her ten seconds (though he only counts to seven) then appears in the room. Sam is captured if she makes any of the following choices: * She goes through the door to the left of her after passing through the door with no handle. * She stays under the bed instead of running when the Psycho enters the room. * She runs further down the hallway instead of hiding in the dumbwaiter. * Standing still in the room after breaking down the wine cellar door. * Failing the "don't move" prompt, or failing to turn off the flashlight. Sam will only escape if she makes the following choices (in order of occurrence): * She runs OR throws the vase, then immediately picks run after she encounters the bed. * After she runs down the stairs, she runs straight to the next hallway OR hides, turns off her light, stays still, then runs and hits the Psycho with a baseball bat. Note that even if you fail to stay still, you can still hit the Psycho with a bat once he's caught you and escape. * After she passes through the door with no handle, she hides in the dumbwaiter instead of running further down the hall. * Sam will walk towards the camera down a long hallway. She will then have to choose between running and hiding. She must choose to hide, then turn off her light and stay still. 'Chapter 6' If Sam was caught, she will be found unconscious in a chair by Chris and Ashley. Otherwise, a dummy wearing her clothes will be in the chair instead. 'Chapter 7' If Sam was caught by the Psycho, she will be awoken by Mike, who will free her from her binds and ask her to find a way for him to enter the basement. If Sam was not caught, she will snoop around the basement and can potentially find the Psycho messing around with some controls. She will then enter a room where she finds Mike through a grate. Mike will ask her to find a way for him to enter the basement. After reuniting with Mike, Sam will put on new clothes and will find Chris and Ashley strapped into a trap the Psycho has set for them. As they approach, the Psycho pulls off his mask to reveal that he is actually, to their shock and horror, Josh. Josh reveals that he played a prank on all of them, like the prank they played on Hannah, but this time his games were not lethal. Sam listened to Josh's explanation of how he faked his own death. When Chris and Mike take Josh away, Sam stays behind in the lodge with Ashley. 'Chapter 8' Sam will next be seen if Emily returns to the lodge. She will comfort Emily, and then a mysterious man will appear. Doing as instructed by the Stranger, Sam heads down to the basement with the group. If Chris perishes while looking for Josh, she will next be seen comforting Ashley. The group, consisting of Sam, Mike, Ashley, and potentially Emily and Chris, then looks through the Stranger's belongings. When Ashley finds out that Emily had been bitten, Sam is the sole person in the group that pleads Mike not to shoot her. After Ashley looks through the Stranger's journal, the group finds new information about the Wendigos. The group decides to warn Mike (presumably about the fact that there are many Wendigos imprisoned in the sanatorium, which Mike did not know), and leave the lodge to travel to the sanatorium. 'Chapter 9' While venturing to the sanatorium, the lodge survivors realize that Mike locked the doors behind him. Ashley suggests traveling through the mines instead and is supported by the rest of the group. The group almost reaches the sanatorium, when they find a large rock wall blocking their path. The other survivors tell Sam that they are unable to climb the wall, so Sam proceeds by herself. After climbing the wall, Sam will stumble upon Mike in one of two situations: * If Mike failed to blow up the large barrels of gasoline during the dual-wendigo pursuit in the sanatorium basement, Sam will find him there, holding off a Wendigo. * If Mike successfully blew up the basement, a single wendigo will have survived and Sam will find Mike bursting through a door in the mines, a burned up Wendigo in pursuit. Regardless, Sam will use whatever weapon she has available (a pipe or a shovel, depending on which route you took) to beat the Wendigo off of Mike. If the Wendigo was burned, she will decapitate it. If it was not, and thus she and Mike are still in the sanatorium, she will beat it back into the gasoline barrels and Mike will proceed to shoot them with his shotgun, blowing up the basement and causing them both to flee the building before heading back down to the mines together. 'Chapter 10' Mike and Sam begin to look for Josh in order to retrieve the cable car keys that he had stolen. On their way to the Wendigo's lair, she and Mike can discover the truth about what happened to Hannah and Beth one year ago. They find a grave with Beth's watch in it and Hannah's diary, which details her thirty-three days of starvation. Sam deduces that Hannah buried Beth, who died from falling into the mines, but later dug her up to eat her body when she was starving. Soon afterwards, Sam and Mike find Josh talking to himself in a cave. If Sam learned the truth about Hannah, she will attempt to tell him before being cut off by Mike. Since Josh was not physically or mentally prepared to climb out of the mines, Sam leaves by herself while Mike escorts Josh through the sewers. Sam climbs out of the mines and runs back to the lodge. When she gets to the lodge, she pleads with the other survivors, if there are any, to let her back in, but gets no response. Mike, having just escaped from the mines as well, appears behind her and tells her that they need to get into the lodge, causing Sam to break through the window with a rock. They travel to the basement to see if there are any survivors and are instantly greeted by Ashley, Emily, and Chris (if they survive, depending on the player 's decision) fleeing upstairs from wendigos in the basement. If the other survivors are all dead, Mike would spot the approaching Wendigos and flee with her out of the basement upstairs. Sam runs upstairs and finds everyone else frozen in their tracks. She looks up and sees that a multitude of wendigos including Hannah have broken into the lodge. If she moves at all, Hannah will pounce at the remaining survivors, injuring Mike in the process. The Wendigos then began fighting each other, causing a gas leak in the process. Mike and Sam notice the leak and nonverbally coordinate a plan to incinerate the lodge by switching on a broken light bulb to ignite the gas. After Mike breaks the lightbulb, any remaining survivors will flee the lodge one at a time, with Mike being the last person to escape. Sam can run to the light switch at any time, but doing so before Mike and any other survivor(s) flee the lodge will result in their deaths. To save Mike, she must yell to attract Hannah's attention as it patrolled near him. Throughout the sequence, failing to stay still at critical moments will result in Sam's death by impalement in the stomach. Regardless of the player's actions, Sam will always survive until the very end and can only die from Hannah in the lodge. As Sam runs to the switch (should this happen) a slow-motion sequence shows Hannah pouncing at another wendigo lunging at Sam. After the lodge is destroyed, the rangers that Emily radioed will arrive and pick up any remaining survivors on Blackwood Mountains. 'Credits' The resulting cabin explosion pinpoints rangers Emily radioed earlier from the radio tower to their location and takes them away to safety. Sam, along with the others who survived, after questioned by the police about her experience with the events that had transpired at the Washington Manor just hours ago. Depending on the actions of the player's choices, Sam's dialogue may vary. She will admit how betrayed she feels by Josh, believing that they had established a connection after his sisters' deaths, but her tone still pities him. She also rebukes the interviewer's effort to get her to open up about it. If Mike dies, she will say how it is her fault that Mike died. She then tells the police that they should launch an investigation at the Washington Manor, stating that the horrors she witnessed and the things she saw she would "trade anything to unsee it." Possible Deaths *If player does not hold still during the lodge escape attempt, Sam will have her abdomen impaled by Hannah's arm. Killed Victims *Mike (Caused, Accidental) (Determinant) *Ashley (Caused, Accidental) (Determinant) *Emily (Caused, Accidental) (Determinant) *Hannah (Determinant) * Wendigo Relationships Ashley Sam can choose to say Ashley and Chris would make a cute couple during one of her conversations with Josh. Beth Washington According to Beth's relationship menu, Sam and Beth were good friends. Sam is listed as Beth's third highest relationship and highest non familial relationship. Chris It is implied that Sam and Chris are good friends. She is seen affectionately punching him on the shoulder, and later, Chris is worried about her when he and Ashley are looking for her. However, Sam will get angry with Chris if he shoots a squirrel during target practice. Relationship Decreases * If Sam snoops on Chris's phone, their relationship score will decrease. * Sam and Chris's relationship will decrease if Chris shoots the squirrel at the shooting range. Emily Sam does not appear to be a close friend of Emily, and their relationship was not very positive due to Emily's involvement in the prank. Nevertheless, if Emily is bitten, Sam will defend her by urging against hastily shooting her. Hannah Washington Sam was Hannah's best friend before her disappearance and attempted to warn Hannah about the prank set up by her friends. Sam was angered when she was too late to intervene, chastising her friends for the antic. Despite the close friendship, after turning into a wendigo, Hannah is merciless and will brutally kill Sam by impaling her in the abdomen if given the chance. Jessica Sam argues with Jessica, Mike, and Emily about their plan to play a prank on Hannah. Later, when Sam and Chris are stuck in a cable car station, Sam asks for Jessica's help on getting out. Jessica responds, "Uh are you having a really weird stroke?" before complying and opening the door for them. Relationship Increases * If Sam shows concern for Jessica after Mike returns from the Sanatorium, her relationship with Jessica will increase. Relationship Decreases * Jessica and Sam's relationship will decrease if Jessica explains to Sam and Chris that she and Mike are together. Josh Washington As Hannah's best friend, Sam has a fairly amicable relationship with Josh, which can become closer depending on the player's actions. Notably, Josh frequently came to her for moral support after the disappearance of his sisters; in an interview with police officers, Sam admits to feeling betrayed by him after the prank he pulled on the group, saying that she thought they had a strong connection. Relationship Increases * If Sam tells Josh that she's there for him when he thanks her for coming back to the lodge, their relationship will increase. * Josh and Sam's relationship will increase if Sam chooses the serious dialogue option upon picking up the baseball bat. * Sam's relationship score with Josh will also increase if she chooses the brave dialogue option when she hears a noise in the boiler room. Mike Mike and Sam have markedly different personalities that can put them at odds with each other at the beginning of the game. However, their trust and support for each other gradually increases as the situation becomes increasingly grim, forcing both of them to take action and eventually depend on each other for survival. When they are reunited after being separated they are happy to see each other alive and Sam can even show concern towards Mike's fingers if he had them amputated, showing that she cares for his well being. Regardless of Mike's and Sam's differences in personality, their survival skills and resourcefulness allowed them to rely on each other and develop a strong mutual trust for each other towards the end. Relationship Increases * If Sam shows concern for either Mike's amputated fingers or Jessica when Mike returns from the Sanatorium, her relationship with Mike will slightly increase. * If Mike spares Emily and Ashley tells the truth about The Stranger's journal, Sam's relationship with Mike will considerably increase. Relationship Decreases *If Mike shoots Emily and Ashley tells Sam the truth about The Stranger's journal, her relationship with Mike will drop to zero. Matt Sam and Matt have actually never been seen together and they don't talk to each other throughout the game, but it is assumed that they are good friends - their relationship status is on the high end in the beginning of the game. Notes * Sam can only be killed in Chapter 10, as she, like Mike, is essential to the whole game prior to the lodge escape sequence. ** It can also be noted that she can only die from the Wendigo, where as Mike can die from both the Wendigo and the explosion, giving her the least amount of possible deaths in the game. * Sam is shown to be an adept mountain climber, and it's implied to be her hobby. * If all the characters survive, she will be the one to tell the police to go down into the mines. * According to Hayden Panettiere, the actress that plays Sam, she is a vegan and a pacifist. Although, given some of Sam's gameplay sections, she isn't afraid to defend herself from harm. * Sam's highest traits are brave, charitable and honest. * Sam's lowest traits are romantic, funny and curious. * Sam's highest relationship status is with Josh, Chris, Emily, Ashley and Matt. * Sam's lowest relationship status is with Mike and Jessica. Quotes * "You know Mike, I kinda think you're the last person she wants to talk to right now." - Sam to Mike after he suggests going after Hannah and Beth. * "You guys are jerks, you know that?" - Sam to the survivors that played the prank on Hannah. * "Nice shootin' tex." - ''Sam complimenting Chris at the shooting range. * ''"Famous last words." - Sam to Mike when they're in the mines going into the water and Mike says everything is fine. * ''"This is all getting really out of hand, okay? It was all very funny, ha ha, look at Sam walking around in a towel, but now I just really want this to be over, alright?" - ''Sam after coming out of the bath to look for her clothes. Gallery SamMenu.png|Sam's Character Menu - Note the white lines signal her stats at the beginning of the game SamReturn.png|Sam returns to the lodge a year later SamUD.jpg|Sam about to be chased by The Killer ChrisPrank.png|Sam getting angry after being pranked by Chris UntilDawn.JPG|Sam running away from The Killer. SamEnding.png|Sam being interviewed after the events of Until Dawn